Stella Luminosa
by Umbreon Mastah
Summary: A Star is broken...And in an instant, five lives, as well as the lives around them, change. Heroes are chosen, villains emerge, battles are waged, and to the victor go the spoils--the universe. Language, violence, and some character death.
1. Inizio

Hi everybody! If you don't know me from previous fics, I'm Umbreon Mastah, UM for short, the insane fanfiction writer who is constantly on a sugar high. I hope that you enjoy _Stella Luminosa! _The first chapter's short enough to be called a prologue, really. Oh, and all the titles (chapter and story) are in Italian. The title translation is _Star Bright. _Enjoy!

Disclaimer: All things Nintendo belong to (who'd've thunk it?) Nintendo.

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Inizio

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_--Beginning--_

* * *

Everything's quieter in space.

There was no wind to ruffle the woman's silvery blonde hair, no soft breeze to move her teal blue dress. She sat, quiet as the space around her, her lips together in a serious mien. The woman looked out over the large observatory in which she sat. Some of her hair fell over her right eye, but she didn't seem to mind. In her right hand, she clutched a long wand topped with a small star. The aquamarine in its center matched the jewel in the center of her crown. She held herself up in a dignified manner.

"Mama!"

"Mama Rosalina!"

The woman looked up to the source of the voices. She formed a small smile. "Hello, you two," she said sweetly. Two star-like creatures, one yellow, the other a pale peach, leapt onto her.

"Mama!" they cried. A small chuckle escaped from Rosalina's lips.

"Luna, Lumas, what are you doing?" she asked, giving them each a hug. The yellow one, Luna, floated up above Rosalina's head. She did a flip in the air.

"Come play with us, Mama!" she said.

"Yeah, play with us!" Lumas, the peach star, repeated. "We were going to play hide-and-seek!" He snuggled Rosalina happily. "Come on!"

"I wish I could," said Rosalina, "but I have to guard the Great Star, remember?" Luna and Lumas looked down in disappointment. Luna glanced toward the large five pointed star behind her mama. It slowly rotated inside what seemed to be a glass container.

"Aww, Mama Rosalina!" she pouted. "Can't the Great Star guard itself? It's the most powerful star in the universe, you know!" Rosalina sighed and glanced back at the Star, too.

"You know that if it fell into the hands of evil, the whole galaxy could be doomed," she pointed out. "No, the whole _universe."_

"But what hands of evil are going to attack _here?"_ asked Lumas, flying out of Rosalina's arms to join Luna. "It's the middle of space! _Please_ play with us?" Rosalina sighed again. Well, Lumas _did _have a point. No villain would think to attack here. And the Star did have a protection system of its own... One round of hide-and-seek wouldn't hurt, would it?

"Fine," she said, giving in. "But stay in the observatory, okay?" The two stars nodded happily.

"Count to fifty!" Luna instructed.

"Ready? Go!" cried Lumas, and they flew off, leaving Rosalina alone. She smiled and closed her eyes.

"One, two, three, four..." she began to count. Every second or two, she heard a small giggle or a quick swish of one of the stars passing by. She loved those two. She loved all of them, all the cute little stars that she lived with.

"...Twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven..."

They called her "Mama" or "Mama Rosalina." It made her smile. She had no memories of her real family, of _her_ real mother. But none of that mattered. She knew that her family was here, at the Comet Observatory.

"...Thirty, thirty-one..."

The giggles and swishes had stopped. They must have been pretty well hidden. Lumas and Luna were very good at hiding, but she was good at seeking, too. Rosalina smiled again. She loved them so very much. Her children...

"...Forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty! Ready or not, here I—!"

_CRASH!_

Rosalina suddenly jerked around. What the—? She gasped.

A swirling vortex, light blue in color, had appeared right behind the Great Star. She clutched her wand tightly. Something began to emerge. A hand...A translucent blue hand, followed by the rest of the arm. Then, slowly, the rest of the creature appeared. It was a man, but he seemed more alien than human. His body was entirely translucent, except for a strange marking in the middle of his chest. His blank, blue eyes had no pupils. The man curled and uncurled his fingers, as if making sure that they were still intact. He looked up. He looked at her. Their eyes met, and Rosalina shouted the first thing that came to mind.

"Luna, Lumas, run!"

The blue man raised his arm. A strange aura glowed around it, and a large ball of scarlet energy appeared. He shot it at her. Rosalina leapt to the side, narrowly dodging it. The man snickered.

"Is this all that they have to guard the Great Star?" he laughed. "Some girl?" He snickered again. "This will be easier than I thought." Rosalina narrowed her eyes. So he was after the Great Star! Well, it was _her_ job to protect it.

And she had trained well.

She lunged at the man, the aquamarine on her wand glowing brightly. "Starfire!" she shouted. The wand erupted into bright blue flames, which flew at the man. Caught unaware, he moved, but not quickly enough. The flames scorched his shoulder. Rosalina was about to follow up with a sharp jab, but he was ready this time. Quickly, he teleported to the other side of the Star. The man raised his other hand, and a barrage of needles flew from his fingertips. Rosalina dodged enough to avoid major damage, but a few stray needles scratched her arms and face. She landed on the side, wand glowing brightly.

"Who are you?!" she demanded. The man laughed.

"Since you surely won't survive this, I guess it's alright to tell you my name." He grinned evilly, his blank eyes mocking her. "I am Tabuu," he said, "the Ultimate Power!"

_Tabuu...what a strange name..._ she thought. It sent chills down her spine, the way he said it. Tabuu raised his arm into the air again. It changed from its blue color to a reddish-yellow, and it morphed into what seemed to be a sharp scythe. He lunged at her, scythe arm out. Rosalina got ready to dodge, when he suddenly disappeared. Looking around, she didn't notice Tabuu appear from behind her and raise his scythe.

"Mama, look out!"

A sudden blur of peach shot out at Tabuu, knocking into his scythe. The scythe transformed back into the blue arm, and it grabbed at the blur. Rosalina turned around in shock. "Lumas!" she cried. In Tabuu's hand was a squirming, struggling star.

"Let go of me, you big creep!" he shouted. "Let go!" Tabuu snickered again.

"What do we have here?" he laughed. "A puny little bodyguard? How cute!" He shook Lumas a little. "Pathetic," he muttered.

"Let him go!" Rosalina cried. He looked up at her.

"Oh, so you're a bit attached to this little shrimp, are you? Excellent!" Tabuu's mouth curled into a wry grin. From behind him, Rosalina saw a flash of yellow. _No, don't! _she thought.

"Take this, bad man!" Luna cried, bashing into Tabuu's arm. However, she simply bounced off, right into Tabuu's other hand.

"Two of you?" he said. "My, this is interesting! I wonder exactly what to do with you." Luna's eyes went wide with terror, but Lumas continued to struggle.

"Let _go!"_ he shouted again. "Leave us alone! Let _go_ of me!" Rosalina clutched her wand. She knew that she had to save her power, but she had to save them, too.

"Starcutter!" she shouted, swiping her wand through the air. A beam of blue light appeared and shot at Tabuu. It cut his arms, causing him to let the two stars go, and then disappeared. Rosalina gasped for breath. It had taken more power than she would have liked to make her Starcutter last that long. "Luna, Lumas!" she gasped. "Get out of here!" Luna complied without hesitation, but Lumas faltered for a moment.

"Be careful, Mama," he said, before flying off after Luna. Tabuu looked in their direction, like he was considering going after them, but he turned to Rosalina instead. He clenched his hand into a fist as the cuts began to bleed. His blood was blue, to match his skin.

"You're more of a nuisance than I thought," he spat, clasping his hands together. Small orbs of energy appeared around him. They seemed to sparkle with electrical energy. Deadly sparkles. Raising his clasped hands, Tabuu sent the orbs at her. Rosalina barely found the energy to move out of the way. One of the orbs caught her foot, and she fell to the ground. Pain came in waves. She looked down and saw that her ankle had been badly burnt.

There was no way she was going to beat him without using her powers. And there was also no way that she was going to muster up enough energy to power another effective offensive attack, unless she wanted to knock herself out.

Tabuu seemed to realize this, and he smirked. He charged another scarlet energy ball. "Nothing personal," he muttered. "You were just in the way." The ball flew towards her. She gritted her teeth.

"Starshield!" she cried, and a pale blue shield formed around her. The energy ball hit it and exploded, taking the shield with it. Rosalina's head started to pound. The shield had taken too much energy. She had to finish this quickly. She pulled herself up. Her wand began to glow brightly. "Please," she muttered under her breath. "Please, let this work." Rosalina glanced up at Tabuu. "Starstorm!" she shouted.

The observatory filled with a blinding light. Stars began to rain down from the sky in an endless barrage. Tabuu cried out in pain as hundreds of stars bombarded his body. Rosalina smirked. Starstorm was her most powerful attack. If it didn't work...

After about the longest half a minute ever, the light subsided. Rosalina suddenly felt the attack take its toll on her body. She nearly collapsed to the ground. Struggling to keep her eyes open, she looked over to Tabuu and gasped.

He was still standing. Bloody and cut, with a huge smirk on his face, he was still standing. He floated over to the Great Star. "I'm truly sorry," he said. "You fought rather well, too. Such a shame, such a shame." Tabuu then transformed his arm into a scythe again and shattered the glass. He began to reach for the Star.

"No," Rosalina muttered. He couldn't take it. She couldn't fail. The universe was counting on her. Her one job...She couldn't fail. Rosalina was beginning to lose consciousness. She tried to gather the little energy she had left. This attack might kill her, but it was a sacrifice she was willing to make. Weakly, she aimed her wand at the center of the Star. "Starfire," she whispered.

The flames burst from the wand like a gust of wind. They hit the Star dead center. There was a crack. "No!" cried Tabuu. The five points of the Star all split, almost evenly, and flew off into space. Tabuu tried to grab at them, but they all avoided his grasp, as if they had minds of their own. "No!" he cried again. "_No!_ I was so close! So close to being the ruler of the universe! _No!"_

Rosalina saw the points fly off. She saw Tabuu, cursing loudly. And then, she saw the stars, the endless space. It was the last thing she saw. She smiled. She had done her job. Luna and Lumas were safe, the Star points were safe, the universe was safe. She had done well.

That was her last thought before everything went black.

* * *

Well, there you have it! Yes, the last move Rosalina used is PK Starstorm (Ness and Lucas's Final Smash).

I actually have the next chapter written, but I'm not going to post it yet. I'd like to hear what you think of this first. Like it? Don't like it? Should I bother continuing? Your reviews are like gasoline--they're what keep me running. But they definitely cost less than gasoline...and taste better...But anyway! Hope you liked it! Cookies to all reviewers!

-Umbreon Mastah


	2. Da Solo

Thanks for all the lovely reviews! This is a really quick update for me, mostly because the chapter was already written and I just needed to go through and tweak. Okay, here's how the story's going to work from here on out: each chapter is going to have four different storylines from four different point of views which eventually all come together. Now I'm going to give it a try, but if it starts to get really confusing and convoluted, give me a shout and I'll start consolidating storylines before you can say, "UM, you imbecile!"

Well, now that that's outta the way, I'm also bringing back my practice of having the characters do the disclaimer for me! Because I'm a lazy bum, yay!! It'll be two of the few characters we've been introduced to so far. Luna and Lumas, come on out!

Luna: Hey! UM owns nothing except for the fic itself!

Lumas: All characters belong to their respective owners. Enjoy the chapter!

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**Da Solo**

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_--Alone--_

* * *

Alone.

For the first time in her entire life, she was alone.

Ana was in a state of panic as she ran through the forest. Why? Why had they split up? They could have, they _should have_ stayed together! Ana was _nothing _without her sister! Then why?

Spiky burs that had fallen from the trees were matted in her orange hair. Her face was bruised from the three times so far that she had tripped and fallen. Her ankle was in great pain; she had probably twisted it a while back. All in all, she was a mess. Some ninja she was.

She glanced backwards, hoping to see Kat running behind her. But there was nothing there besides the path Ana had plowed with her own frantic footsteps. How could Kat leave her?

Suddenly, Ana was pulled to a stop. "Aw, crap," she muttered. One of her bright orange pigtails had gotten caught on a tree branch. Stopping for a moment, she began to untangle her hair from the branch. Her heart began to slow a bit, and she started to gather her thoughts. Ana finally freed herself. She looked back again. Although her sister wasn't following her, neither was anything else, so that was a good thing. The young ninja sat down under the tree and sighed. Maybe, if she waited, Kat would be able to catch up to her. She had promised that she would...but...

_"Ana, look out!" Ana quickly rolled out of the way as their foe charged at her. She jumped to her sister's side. The attacker, a purple dragon with bright yellow eyes, turned to face the two ninjas._

_"Tricky little things, aren't you?" he hissed menacingly. He unfurled his wings, yellow to match his eyes, and began to flap them, causing powerful winds to fly at the ninjas. Kat and Ana braced themselves as the winds pushed them back._

_"Ana, get out of here!" Kat cried suddenly, unsheathing her katana and gripping it tightly. Ana looked at her sister, blue eyes wide._

_"And leave you here?" she asked. Kat nodded slowly. "No!" The dragon had stopped flapping his wings now and got ready to charge at them again._

_"Ana, go now!" her sister said. "I'll be fine! I'll catch up to you!"_

_"But what if you don't?!"_

_Kat opened her mouth to answer, but she was cut off as the dragon leapt at Ana. Acting quickly, the purple-haired ninja leapt at him and countered his blow with her sword. The dragon howled in pain as she slashed at his snout, leaving two long cuts. "Ana, hurry!"_

_"Kat, I'm not leaving you!" Ana cried. The dragon slashed at Kat with his talon, but a kunai knife thrown by Ana stopped him. It stuck right on what looked like a vein. Taking advantage of his temporary weakness, Kat slashed out at the dragon again. She glanced back at Ana._

_"Ana! Go _now!"

_Ana stopped. She had never heard Kat talk to her like that. Kat had always been kind to her. She had never yelled at her before. Slowly, hesitantly, Ana nodded and turned to get away. She looked back for a moment. The dragon had risen to his feet again, preparing to strike. Kat gripped her katana even tighter. The two sisters' eyes met, and then Kat smiled. Ana couldn't help but smile back, nervous as she was._

_Then she turned and ran..._

She sighed. How long had she been running? Was Kat ever going to arrive? _Of course she is_, she thought. _Any second now, she's gonna appear, she's gonna tell me that she killed the mean dragon..._ Seconds passed. There was no sign of Kat. Seconds turned to minutes, minutes to hours. Ana was beginning to grow tired. She felt her eyes starting to droop.

"No!" she cried. "I can't fall asleep!" But it was so _dark _in the forest! And she was so _exhausted! _Suddenly, Ana noticed something that she hadn't seen before. There was a beam of light, coming from only a yard or two away. _Could it be...the end of the forest?_ Gathering up whatever remaining energy she had, the orange-haired ninja rose to her feet and cautiously made her way towards the light. Carefully, she pushed through the leaves and was met with an overflow of sunlight, so bright that it hurt her eyes. Blinking away the sunspots, Ana began to take in her surroundings.

She was in a zoo, or what was left of it. Rusty, broken cages were scattered around in no particular pattern. Up ahead, Ana saw the remains of what used to be a picnic area, overturned, rotting tables and broken benches. The wind rustled the dry grass, long dead. Ana shuddered.

_What could have happened here?_

She started slowly down the stone pathway, one of the few things still intact. For some reason, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. Ana glanced nervously back and forth. She thought she had seen something move out of the corner of her eye. Her quivering hand started to make its way towards her katana. She placed her hand on its handle, ready to pull it out at any given moment. A sudden voice from behind her made her jump.

"W-who are you?!"

Ana whizzed around, sword in hand. The owner of the voice cringed. "N-n-no! D-don't hurt me!" he cried, cowering to the ground. Ana relaxed her sword arm for a moment and took a look at him. He was a young boy, maybe a year or two older than she was, with grayish-blue eyes. He had blonde hair, a yellow and orange striped shirt, and denim shorts. Red sneakers donned his feet. And he looked scared as hell.

"P-please!" he cried again. "I-I won't f-f-fight you! Just don't h-hurt m-me!" Ana felt a sweatdrop forming. Geez, he stuttered more than _her._

"I'm not going to hurt you," she said, putting her katana away. The boy looked up.

"Y-you're not?" he stuttered. She shook her head and offered him her hand. Taking it, he muttered a quiet, "Th-thank God," and got up. "I'm L-Lucas, by the way," he said.

"My name's Ana," the young ninja replied.

"A-Ana? Th-that's a pretty n-name." A slight blush ran across Ana's face, but she shook it away.

"Thanks," she said. "Lucas, what are you doing here?" Lucas looked at her, then looked down to the ground and sighed.

"There's n-n-nowhere else to g-go," he said. Ana cocked her head. "The entire, the entire t-t-town has been invaded. W-why are you here?"

Ana had no idea how to explain her predicament, so she simply said, "Pretty much the same reason you are." The sunlight started to fade as a dark cloud passed over it. "Oh, it looks like it might rain!"

"I-I know a place we can s-stay!" said Lucas suddenly, sounding a bit more confident despite the stuttering. "I go th-there a lot! C-come on!" He took Ana's hand and began to lead her down the path. The young girl was going to resist, but the arrival of more dark clouds and a slight drizzle led her to do otherwise. She only hoped that Kat would be able to find her. Ana looked at Lucas again.

But at least now, she wasn't alone.

* * *

The fox wore a grey jacket over his green shirt. A red bandana was tied around his neck. His pants were green to match his shirt, and he wore fingerless gloves and red boots. On one side of his belt was a small reflector; a gun in its holster was on the other. His eyes were also bright green. His name was Fox McCloud. And he was _not _happy.

"You want us to do _what?"_ he cried, looking at the image of a red-clad bloodhound on the large monitor.

"That's right, Fox," said the dog. "You need to look into this. The government can't spare any of its troops."

"General Pepper!" Fox shouted. "We just got back from our last mission. Which _you _gave us, may I remind you?" He crossed his arms. "No one, including me, is going to want to do another one this soon," he said.

"Fox, an explosion this large can't go uninvestigated!" Pepper argued. "What if it has deadly consequences?"

"Then it's the _government's _concern," the vulpine shot back. "You always seem to forget," he said, "that Star Fox is _not _part of the government."

"Yes, but you're the best I've got. Please, Fox. I'll pay you!" Fox's ears perked up at the word _pay._

"I might be able to persuade the crew with money," he muttered. "How much are you talking?"

"One-thousand credits?" offered Pepper.

"General," Fox said, "one-thousand credits wouldn't even persuade Slippy to join. And you know how bad he is with money."

"Fine, then," he sighed, "five-thousand credits, or you're doing it for free."

"Five-thousand credits it is," said Fox, "though I'm not too sure the crew will be too happy."

"You're the commander," Pepper said. "Boost morale. Pepper out." With that, the image faded. Fox sighed.

"Oh, Falco's going to _kill _me for this." The vulpine left the room with the monitor and walked out into the hallway. He figured that his crew would probably be in the lounge, seeing as it was Friday Night Football. The loud buzzing of a TV and the even louder shouting at players informed him that he was right.

"Okay, guys," he said, walking in, "we've got a new mission."

"WHAT?!"

"No way!"

"Already?"

"The hell does Pepper want this time?"

Fox looked over his crew and sighed. Peppy, an older gray hare, stood with his mouth wide open. To the right, flopped on the sofa, was a green toad, Slippy. A blue vixen named Krystal sat on the chair next to him, shaking her head in disbelief. And leaning on the TV, beer bottle in hand...er, wing, was a blue bird with red rings around his eyes: Falco.

"He wants us to investigate an explosion at a remote location," Fox said.

Falco took a drink from his bottle. "No way. Why the hell does he want us to do that?" he asked. Fox shrugged.

"He's paying us for it, right?" asked Peppy.

"Probably not enough," Krystal muttered, tugging on her blue boot to make it more comfortable.

"Five-thousand credits," the commander said. Only Slippy looked impressed.

"Dude, do you know how many _video games _that could buy?" the toad said. Falco picked up a crumpled piece of paper from the floor and chucked it at Slippy's head. He ducked, but it knocked off the red and white cap he had been wearing. "Hey!"

"Slippy, five-thousand credits is barely enough to fix the engine in the _Great Fox_," said Krystal. Their ship's engine had been acting strange lately, and it required a lot of money to fix.

"Oh...I forgot."

"And you call yourself the ship's mechanic," Falco spat, taking another drink from the bottle.

"Now, now, no fighting," said Peppy, always the one to break up disputes. "I assume you four will be taking the Arwings, right, Fox?" he asked. Fox nodded. "Then I'll follow behind with the _Great Fox_ as fast as she can go."

"Don't push her too hard, Peppy. She's going to break down any second," Krystal reminded him.

"We'll leave tomorrow," said Fox. "We'll go, we'll check around, we'll come back, we'll get our paycheck. I'm trying to make this as quick and painless as I can, guys."

"Stupid Pepper," the bird muttered. "He thinks we're his own personal troop." They all nodded in agreement.

"Well, we've got to make the best of it," said the vixen. "You know, when life gives you lemons..." Falco finished off the rest of his beer in one huge gulp.

"Spike the damn lemonade," he said.

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Captain's Log Number 235:

_I seem to have found friends on this strange planet. After the Dolphin crashed yet again, I was met by two strange old men. They promised to help fix my ship. What good fortune. I'm glad that their lab was nearby, the Pikmin and I could barely walk after that crash. It seems tha..._

"Hey, shorty, whatcha writin'?" Olimar looked up at the one who interrupted his writing with annoyance.

"None of your concern, demon," he muttered, closing his book and putting it in his back pocket.

"I told you, the name's Red, not 'demon'," said the little imp, crossing his arms and sticking his tongue out.

Olimar simply waved his hand in an _I don't really care_ kind of motion. "Doesn't your little witch girl need help?" he asked, hoping to rid himself of this little annoyance. However, he got the exact opposite of what he had hoped for.

"Mistress Ashley is _not _a witch!" Red shouted, giving Olimar a well-aimed punch to the space helmet. It was a wonder that it didn't crack. "She's a _sorceress_. There's a difference, shorty!" Olimar shook the stars out of his eyes. Geez, that demon could pack a punch.

"Fine, fine, sorceress," he muttered. "And you're not in a position to call me short. I'm taller than you." Red pulled his jet-black pants up a little higher, like he was trying to make himself taller.

"Mistress Ashley's taller than you," he spat. "So I can call you short. Got it, shorty?" he said, a bit menacingly.

"Just be quiet, you stupid imp," said Olimar. The demon glared at him.

"I already told you, it's _Red!"_ he said. But he walked away from Olimar and over to a young girl with long black hair that was tied back into two large pigtails. She wore a headband and a red dress, along with black stockings and strange, almost witch-like orange shoes. Around her neck was a neckerchief with a knot that resembled a skull. During the entire conversation, she had kept to what seemed to be a potion. "Mistress Ashley," said Red, "shorty over there called you a witch." The girl didn't look up from her potion, but Red seemed to have been used to this.

"Stupid demon-thing," Olimar muttered again. When he had accepted help from the two old men, he hadn't realized that meant staying in the same house with an annoying devil and a creepy witch girl. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw some of his Pikmin, cowering in a corner. They weren't exactly happy to be there, either. But it was better than being out in the cold.

"Ashley, how's the potion coming?" asked a voice from the kitchen. Ashley looked up for a moment, but didn't say anything.

"Mistress Ashley still is searching for some of the ingredients!" Red answered for her. An old Goomba walked out of the kitchen. He had grey hair and wore swirling glasses.

"Oh? What do you need?" he asked. He turned to Olimar for a moment. "Dinner will be ready shortly," he said.

"Thanks, Professor Frankly," said Olimar. The Goomba nodded, then walked over to Ashley and Red. The young girl showed him a list that she had made.

"Hmm...All you need is beeswax, turnip heads, and mandrake roots, right?" Frankly asked. Ashley nodded. "Well, I have turnips in the pantry, and we might have beeswax up in the attic. But the mandrake root we'll have to go shopping for, unless Gadd has some. I'll go ask him, and I'll get those turnips now," he said. Then he left the room.

Red eyed one of Olimar's Pikmin evilly. "You know, we could find a substitute for mandrake root," he said, grinning like a madman. Olimar saw this and quickly scooped up the Pikmin Red was after, a yellow one.

"No!" he cried. "You are not chopping Robert up to be used in some potion!" Red's eyes went wide.

"You named those things?" he asked. "Aren't there, like, thousands of them?" Olimar shot him a glare.

"I named all of the yellow ones Robert. They're named by color," he replied. Red looked at another yellow one, cringing behind a purple Pikmin.

"So that one's Robert Two?" he asked, pointing at it. Olimar nodded.

"That's cruel." Both of them looked up. That was the first time Olimar had heard Ashley speak. "You should respect individuality," she continued, never looking up from her potion. Olimar was about to reply when a shout from upstairs startled nearly all of them.

"I'VE GOT IT!"

Loud footsteps could be heard running down the stairs as another old man, also wearing swirling glasses, dashed down. He wore a long white lab coat, and a single bit of white hair donned his head. "I've got it!" he said again.

"Got what? What did you get?" asked Frankly, walking in. He handed the turnips to Ashley, who nodded her thanks.

"More information on the Great Star, of course! What did you think I was talking about?" Frankly glanced to the ceiling.

"Last time you shouted 'I've got it!', you were talking about that nose hair you were trying to pull out," he muttered. "But tell us, E. Gadd."

"Well," E. Gadd started, pushing his glasses up, "it seems you were right about the explosion. It definitely occurred where the Great Star was located. It also seems that, moments after the explosion, five powerful objects were sent flying from the location."

"The Star points?" Frankly asked. Gadd nodded. "Oh, I _knew _it!" he cried. "Ha! That's five bucks, Red!"

"Fine, fine," the demon muttered, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a five dollar credit.

"_Ahem!" _Gadd coughed. Everyone turned to look at him. "There's more," he said. "Apparently, if my research is correct, the Star points will land where they will be found by five specific individuals. These individuals are chosen for what seems to be no reason, except that the Great Star thinks that they are capable enough. How many of the Star points have already been found, I don't know. But that," he said, "is where Ashley's potion comes into play. Ashley, is it done yet?" Ashley shook her head and handed him the list. "Ah, I know where I can find these," said Gadd, "but we have to wait until tomorrow. Will your potion be able to sit that long?"

"It needs to be frozen," said Ashley, her tone emotionless. Gadd nodded.

"Very well, then," he said. "And I believe dinner is ready anyways. Right, Frankly?"

"Yes," replied the Goomba.

"Alright, chow time!" cried Red. He dashed into the kitchen. Ashley followed him, carrying the potion with her, and Frankly was close behind. Olimar, however, was confused. E. Gadd seemed to notice this. He walked up to him.

"Don't worry, sonny," he said. "All will be explained in due time." Then he walked into the kitchen, chuckling the entire way.

* * *

So it had begun.

He looked out into the deep red sky, tinted by the shadows, ominous, lurking. It would have been sunset, had he been able to see the sun. That was one thing he hated about these shadows. Always messing with his favorite time of day.

He sighed as a cool wind blew over him, sweet relief from the warmth he was feeling. Too much red. Soon, he was going to be seeing red wherever he went. Maybe this wasn't the best of ideas.

It concerned the fate of the universe, though. Didn't it always? He chuckled to himself. He literally held a piece of its destiny in his hands, he thought. He fingered the small golden point in his gloved hands, grinning slightly.

Heh, wry humor.

Now, though, it was up to the other unfortunate four. Would they realize the power they had found? Most likely not. Would they be able to control it? Even less likely than that. Was this going to get very interesting? He smiled.

Definitely so.

* * *

Tada! There you go! Lucas has a speech problem, and Falco's a badmouth, but I hope that you liked it! Hopefully the next update will be quick as well--I've been working ahead, and chapter three is almost done! Thanks for reading!

Psst, wanna know a secret? See that button down there? The green one? Well, guess what. If you press it, cookies come out! Oh, the excitement! Press the button!

Ciao!

-Umbreon Mastah


	3. Azionamento

Hey everybody! Welcome to chapter three of _Stella Luminosa! _For some reason, I keep posting these updates late at night. Ah well. Anyways, I hope that the online translator gave me the right "drive" (not car drive). You can never be sure with those things. I really need to learn more Italian...(sigh)

To do our disclaimer, we have Ana! Take it away, my little ninja friend!

Ana: ...UM owns nothing but the plot. Please enjoy this chapter!

Me: Hear we go! Hope you like it! So many of my favorite characters are introduced!

* * *

**_Azionamento_**

* * *

_--Drive--_

* * *

Wolf sighed. Ah. There was nothing like the chase. The rush of adrenaline, the blinking lights of his Wolfen's control panel, the pure, clear focus that the world entered. He boosted the acceleration. "Leon," he asked into his radio, "any sign of the bounty?"

"No," was the reply. "Ask Panther."

"Nothing," came another voice. "She's a bit evasive, isn't she? But all women are, no?"

"Panther, cut the perverted crap. We've got a job to do," Wolf sighed.

"I was merely making a statement," Panther pouted. "Hey, look, Wolf, I see you!" Wolf glanced up and out his window. There was another bright red Wolfen, a rose adorning her side. In the cockpit, Wolf saw a black figure, waving at him. He sighed again. _Imbecile..._

"I spotted her!" cried Leon. "West Section, one of the side alleys! Can I shoot her?"

"No, that's not fair! Wait for us!" Panther whined.

"Fine," Leon huffed. "But if we lose her because I'm waiting for you, it's _your _fault!"

"Both of you, shut it," said Wolf. "Leon, keep following her. We'll be there momentarily." With that, Wolf sped up his Wolfen, Panther's close behind. They were above the Northeast Section of the city, but with their speed, they reached the West Section quickly. Wolf spotted Leon, speeding over one of the alleys.

"Took you long enough," the lizard complained. "_Now _can I start shooting?"

"Go ahead," he replied. With a shout of glee, Leon pulled his trigger. Gunfire began to rain down on the alley. "Come on, Panther," Wolf said, "let's not miss out on the fun."

"Aye aye, sir!" The two of them followed Leon.

But then, Wolf noticed something golden out of the corner of his eye. "Hey, what's that?" he asked himself. Pulling back, he stopped the Wolfen to try to get a closer look.

"What's wrong, Wolf?" asked Panther, since Leon was too busy trying to kill to notice.

"Keep going," he answered, "I'll be right there." Shrugging, Panther kept following the blood-crazed Leon and left his commander behind. Wolf kept looking for the golden thing he had seen. Maybe...Maybe he was just seeing things, but still...

_Zoom!_

Wolf whizzed around. There it was! Squinting, he tried to make out what the golden blur that had just passed him was. He sped up again, chasing it. It was a spaceship! And she was following Leon and Panther!

"Dammit! We've got some competition, boys!" he shouted.

"No way he's getting _my _kill!" cried Leon in a ravenous tone.

"I'll lead him away! Leon, stay on target. Panther, start to break away a little bit. We've got to confuse him." With that, Wolf increased the acceleration even further and closed in on the spaceship. He zoomed forward and passed her easily. "Sucker," he said under his breath. Just then, a fuzzy static starting coming from the radio. Wolf eyed it carefully, then whacked it with his fist.

"Connection established," a robotic voice chimed.

"Connection? What the hell?" he asked. He heard a chuckle from the other side of the radio. But this wasn't Leon's or Panther's chuckle. No, this was someone else. A woman. "Who the hell are you?" he shouted into the radio.

"Geez, you're rude," came a woman's voice. "Not going to make friends with many people like that, are you?"

"You know what, lady?" snapped Wolf. "Whoever you are, you have no right to mock me! What do you want?"

He heard another chuckle. "What do all bounty hunters want? Their prize, of course! Now, I suggest moving out of my way before I shoot your little red butterfly out of the sky," she replied. Wolf looked behind him. So _she_ was the pilot of the ship!

He grinned. "Well, I want the same thing you want, miss. And don't think that I'm going to give it to you just because you're a girl," he said.

"Oh? Then this should be _fun."_ And at that moment, laser beams began to fly from the golden spaceship. Wolf swerved to the side to avoid them. He cut the ignition for a moment and let the ship speed by him, then hit the gas and began shooting his own lasers.

"You watch what this 'butterfly' can do!" he shouted. He watched as one of the beams hit the ship and created a small explosion. Cursing could be heard from the other side.

"Wolf!" Wolf looked up. That was Panther! "Wolf, Leon's Wolfen just went down in flames! She just erupted into them!"

"What?!" The voice on the other side of the radio seemed to be shocked, too.

"Damn!" she cursed. "The bounty's fighting back!"

"The hell?" Wolf shouted. The bounty was fighting back? The bounty was more than five hundred feet below them, how could she be fighting back? "Panther, get out of there!" he cried.

"But what about Leon?"

"If the idiot remembered to hit the eject button, he should be fine. Just _get out of there!"_

Panther seemed to hesitate for a moment, then he said, "Yes, sir." Wolf gripped the wheel, his knuckles turning white. There was an unnatural silence for about half a minute.

"See ya later, lady," Wolf said at last, zooming off back to where Leon had been downed.

"Are you insane?" the woman cried. "She'll take you down, too!"

"Miss, I'm Wolf O'Donnell," he said. "I _always _get my man."

* * *

The sky was an eerie, paranormal red over the dry desert, which didn't help very much with the heat issue. Throughout the desert, the sound of a motorcycle rang out.

_Vroom! Vroom! Vroom! Vr-splutter-oom!_

The bright yellow motorcycle, complete with matching sidecar, zoomed across the desert, only stopping briefly when sand would make it splutter, then starting up again after a few minutes and more than a few curse words from its driver. At the moment, the motorcycle seemed to be stuck in one of those delays.

"Damn sand!" cursed the driver, a fat Italian man with a jagged moustache. He wore a yellow helmet with goggles and a denim jacket with the words _Hurry Up! _imprinted on its back. "We're never gonna get there!" He whacked his hand with his fist. In the sidecar, another Italian man winced.

"Wario," he said, "stop making those sudden movements! You're shaking the motorcycle! And me!" This man was the exact opposite of Wario. He was tall and lanky, and his moustache was straight and bent like handlebars. He was wearing long purple pants and a black t-shirt that donned a Piranha Plant and the words _Bite me._

"Oh, shut up, Waluigi," muttered Wario. The motorcycle's engine gave a sudden _vroom!, _and the two were off again.

"Wario," Waluigi complained, "when will we get there? It's so hot out here!"

"We get there when we get there! Which had better be soon!"

"Why are you taking me here again?" he asked.

Wario looked back at him. "For the last time," he said, "these guys are planning a universal conquest here! If we join them now, we get a nice slice of the pie!"

"And what happens if they _don't _give us a slice of the pie?" asked Waluigi, crossing his arms.

"Then we beat the _entire _pie outta 'em!" Wario said. "Hey, look, I see something! You think that's the place?" Waluigi's eyes widened.

In the distance, parked on the desert sand, there was a huge airship, nearly three football fields long. On the bow was what looked like an enormous mask. She had large purple bat wings and a huge cannon on her bridge. His mouth dropped.

"I think it's the place."

The two brothers sped towards the battleship, Wario delighted that he wouldn't have to drive anymore and Waluigi plain freaked out. "Hey, Wario, they're gonna accept us, right?" he asked. "There's no test, right?"

"It said nothing about a test on the flyer," Wario spat, not really paying attention. "And they'd better not pull one on us. Besides, what would they test us on, anyway?" Waluigi raised an eyebrow.

"You know, the usual stuff. IQ test, physical ability, criminal background..."

"If we had a criminal background, wouldn't they be _more _likely to let us in?" asked Wario. He shrugged.

"It would make sense," he said. The two drove in silence until they reached the airship at last. "Whoa," said Waluigi. "That's a_ big _ship."

"No, really?" Wario said sarcastically. "Come on, let's go." Setting up the kickstand on his motorcycle, he grabbed his brother's arm and pulled him out of the sidecar.

"Hey! Yowch! Wario, I can walk myself, thank you! Let go!" Wario, however, didn't comply and kept dragging Waluigi toward the ship's side.

"Hey!" he shouted. "Anyone here? We've come 'cause of your flyer! Where's the person in charge here?"

"Wario, I don't think anyone's going to answer," said Waluigi.

"Nonsense! They called for villains, they'll get villains! Hey! Anybody home?" Wario called again. This time, they heard a reply.

"Ah, you must be here to join." Wario and Waluigi whipped around. Behind them was a huge man, more than six feet tall, with enormous muscles and dark skin. His hair was orange, and a cape blew from behind his back.

"How did you do that?" asked Wario. "How'd you get behind us?"

The man snickered. "Like this," he said. Suddenly, he disappeared in a flash of purple light.

"What the hell?" Wario glanced back and forth. "Where'd he go?"

"Behind you," came a voice. Whizzing around again, the two brothers saw the same man behind them. He let out a laugh at their shocked faces. "I am Ganondorf," he said. "You want to join us, am I correct?"

"Well, why else would we be here?" asked Wario cynically. Waluigi nodded, but didn't say anything. Best to let his brother talk to creepy teleporting man. Ganondorf motioned for them to follow him.

"Come inside," he said, opening a door on the side of the ship. "You're just in time. We were going to take off in the next fifteen minutes. I guess we'll have to wait longer now."

"Yeah, well, the damn sand here doesn't work well with motorcycles," Wario muttered, leading his brother inside. "Oh, my bike!" he cried. "I left it outside!"

"We'll take care of it," said Ganondorf. He put his fingers in his mouth and let out a shrill whistle. Immediately, two robots rolled up to him. "You two," he ordered, "bring this man's motorcycle into the hangar. I want it there in a matter of minutes, you hear me?" The two robots nodded and rolled away.

"Wow," whistled Wario, "nice service. Obedient, and they don't say a word!"

"Yes, we take great pride in the Robotic Operating Buddies," he replied. "Now, come this way, please. Unfortunately, our leader is not here at the present moment, but I shall introduce you to the others. What were your names again?"

"I'm Wario," he said, "and this here's my bro, Waluigi." Wario pointed his thumb towards Waluigi, who simply nodded, too freaked out to say anything.

"Ah, yes, very good." The Gerudo continued to lead the two brothers through the ship. "This here," he said, pointing into one of the rooms, "is the electronics center. Here, we decode messages from what might be enemy bases, among other things. I'm not in charge of here, so I wouldn't know. Hey, Tasty Cake!" A swivel chair in the middle of the room turned around to reveal a weird looking man wearing a purple bandana on his head over what looked like horns. He had an orange beard and white glasses.

"It's _Crump, _Ganondork-face, _Crump," _he said.

"Whatever, Crump-cake. Hey, we've got two newbies. This is Wario, and this is Waluigi. Guys, meet Tasty Cake. He works all the electronic stuff," said Ganondorf. Crump clenched his fist.

"Lord Crump," he said, ready to blow. "The name's Lord Crump. Not Crump-cake, not Tasty Cake, not anything Doofus over there calls me. Lord...Crump..."

"Uh-huh, uh-huh, right," muttered Ganon uncaringly. "Alright, you two, let's leave this idiot to his video games. Come." With a sweep of his cape, he turned and walked down the hallway.

"Don't be surprised if you can't get into your room tonight!" Crump called after him. Ganondorf let out a loud laugh.

"You know Meta Knight hates it when you mess with his ship, Crump-cake! And speaking of Meta Knight," he told Wario and Waluigi, "we'll meet him next." Wario and Waluigi looked at each other, very confused, but they followed him anyway. "This hallway leads to the bathrooms," Ganon said, pointing down one of the many hallways, "and this one leads to the bedrooms. We'll go there later. Over there is the engine room. Don't go in there, Meta Knight will flip."

"Do we get a map?" asked Wario. Ganon laughed again. The three kept walking until Ganondorf stopped in front of a room with the door closed.

"This here's the room where we actually pilot the ship. Well, where Meta Knight pilots the ship. Let's go in," he said, opening the door. In the front of the room was a large window, showing the view from the ship's front. There were many buttons and levers, all flashing different colors. Waluigi was baffled just by the sight of it. In the middle was another swivel chair (because everyone loves those things). However, this one didn't seem to be turning, like there wasn't anyone in it. "Hey, Meta Knight!" called Ganon. There was no answer. "Meta Knight! Hey! Are you there?" No reply. Sighing, Ganondorf walked up to the swivel chair and spun it around a couple times.

"Alright, alright, I get it," came a voice. In the chair was a short..._puffball_ would kind of be how Waluigi would describe him. He was wearing a metal mask, one that matched that on the bow of the battleship, a purple cape, purple shoes (with high heels, Waluigi happened to notice), gloves, and black shoulder pads. His eyes were a glaring yellow. He pulled the headphones that he was wearing off.

"Meta Knight, could you really not hear me, or were you just ignoring me?" asked Ganon.

"The second one," said Meta Knight. "Although it _is_ difficult to hear with these things on. What do you want?"

"We've got new recruits," the Gerudo said. "Meta Knight, meet Wario and Waluigi. Wario, Waluigi, this is Meta Knight, the pilot and owner of this ship." Meta eyed them carefully. Waluigi felt chills run down his spine. Geez, this guy was scary.

"Is that it?" he said at last.

"Oh, I forgot how amazingly social you are," muttered Ganondorf sarcastically. Meta Knight shot him a glare and reached for his headphones again. "Meta, we're not even flying," he said. "Why do you need those?"

"Like I've said before," Meta said, "it's not just the wind that I'm trying to block out." He was just about to put them on again when he stopped for a moment. "One thing you should know," he said, addressing the two Italian brothers. "The _Halberd _is my ship. If either of you two do anything to her, anything at all, you'll have me to deal with." With that, he pulled the headphones back onto his head (which was basically his entire body, but you get the gist) and turned the chair away from them.

"Yeah, he's a nice guy, as you can tell," said Ganon. "Come on, we'll go meet the rest of the crew."

"They're not here," said Meta Knight, not bothering to turn the chair back.

"I _knew _you could hear me!" Ganon cried. "Ha!"

Meta sighed. "Ridley is out hunting, remember? And Bowser said that he would meet us in Poshley Heights. Something about dropping his kids off at their camps."

"Bowser? As in, Bowser Koopa?" asked Waluigi suddenly. Ganondorf seemed surprised at the new voice, as Waluigi hadn't said a word since they'd met, but he nodded. "Oh! We know him," he explained.

"Ah, perfect! Come, you two, I'll show you to your rooms," said the Gerudo. "See you later, Meta!" Meta Knight didn't reply. "He's ignoring me again," he whispered to Wario and Waluigi. "Watch this. Meta Knight, I love you!" There was no reply for a minute. "See, he doesn't care," Ganon said. "Let's go!" As soon as the Gerudo had turned, something whacked the back of his head. "The hell?" he cried. Waluigi tried to resist the urge to laugh. Meta Knight had taken one of the many remote controls (probably controlled the lights or the fans, as Meta didn't seem like one to get out of his chair) and had chucked it at Ganon's head. The Gerudo's face went red. "META KNIGHT!" he shouted.

"Was it such a good idea to come here?" Waluigi asked quietly.

"You kidding me?" said Wario. "It's like a free show!" Waluigi simply sighed.

* * *

The rain was falling heavily by the time Ana and Lucas finally reached their destination. "H-here we are!" said the latter, happy that he could be of some help. "M-my secret c-c-clubhouse!" Ana looked at it. It was nothing more than a wooden shack, somewhat dilapidated, with a navy blue flag flying from the roof. But for some reason, she really liked it. Lucas opened the door and led her inside, shutting the door behind them. There was a small fire going in a stone fire place. There were four windows, one on each wall. A small table and a woven rug sat in the middle of the cabin, and variously colored pillows were scattered around to be used as chairs. In one of the corners was what looked like a small fridge and microwave (quite a strange sight in a clubhouse that seemed to have no electric power at all).

"Wow," said Ana, "it's...It's great!"

"Th-thanks!" Lucas stuttered, smiling. Ana smiled back, until she noticed something on one of the pillows. Something fat and yellow.

"Oh my god it's a rat!" she shrieked, pointing to the fat yellow rat-like thing that had been sleeping on the pillow. I say had been, because he woke with a start the second those words had left her mouth.

"The hell?!" he shouted, leaping to his feet. "Geez, can't a Pokémon get some decent sleep around here?" he complained.

"EEK! The rat talked, the rat talked!" cried the young ninja. He shot her a glare.

"Who you callin' a rat, carrot-top?" he said. "I'm a _mouse _Pokémon, not rat, got it? Insulting!" Ana was about to scream again when Lucas stopped her.

"C-calm down, A-Ana. It's o-okay, he's a f-friend," he said. "Ana, th-this is P-Pikachu."

"You...You know him?" she asked. Lucas nodded.

"Of course he knows me!" cried Pikachu. "Lucas and I have been best buds for, like, forever! Right, buddy?"

"Um...Y-yeah..."

Ana looked at Pikachu. He looked back. "What, you don't believe me? Well, Lucas here found me when I was just a little Pichu, cold and alone on the streets, separated from my family!" Pikachu's eyes began to tear up, but Ana could tell that it was fake. "He took me in and let me stay in this here clubhouse! He trained me until I evolved, and now I stay here! Ask Lucas!" Ana looked to the young blonde.

"Well, it's t-tr-true," said Lucas.

"Yeah!" said Pikachu, punching his fist into the air. "It's thanks to true friends like Lucas here that people like me survive! I was hungry, cold, and beaten..." At this part, Ana played an imaginary violin, and Lucas laughed quietly. "...and would have died if not for Lucas, and...What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing," said Ana sweetly. "Well, I'm Ana, and it's a pleasure to meet you, Pikachu," she said, offering her hand. Pikachu shook it. Then, a sudden flash of lightning made Ana and Lucas jump. Not even three seconds later, there was thunder.

"Awesome!" Pikachu cried. "The storm's _super _close! I'm goin' outside!"

"But, wait!" cried Ana. "You could get hurt!"

"No way!" he said, sparks flying from his bright red cheeks. "Electric Pokémon can't get hurt by lightning! It actually feels pretty good. See you!" And he dashed out the door, slamming it behind him.

"Um, A-Ana?" asked Lucas, obvious not concerned that the Pokémon he had "saved from near death" had just gone out to play in the lightning. "There's...there's s-soup in the fridge, if you w-want me to h-h-heat it up."

"Oh! Yeah, that would be great! Thanks," she said, beaming at him. He smiled and walked over to the fridge, grabbing a jug that was filled with chicken soup and pulling out three bowls from a shelf next to it. _Wow, he's really nice, _thought Ana, _even if he does stutter a lot. Not many people have been this nice to me. Why, he almost reminds me of... _Ana stopped for a second, her smile quickly disappearing.

_...of Kat._

Lucas seemed to notice this. "W-what's wrong, Ana?" he asked. She looked up at him and forced a smile.

"I'm fine!" she said. The young blonde didn't look convinced, but he returned to the soup. As soon as one of the bowls was finished heating up in the microwave, he took it out and gave it to Ana, along with a napkin and spoon from the same shelf. "Thank you," she said.

"C-careful, it's a b-bit hot," said Lucas, placing the next bowl of soup in the microwave. Nodding, she took a spoonful and blew on it before popping it into her mouth. She felt the warmth fill her body, and she couldn't help but relax into one of the pillows. The microwave beeped to say that the next bowl of soup was done. Lucas removed it and set it on the table.

"P-Pikachu might not be b-back for a while, so...so I won't heat h-his up yet," he said, sitting down next to Ana.

"Does he always go out during thunderstorms?" Ana asked. He nodded. "Does he have a mental problem or something?" Lucas laughed.

"N-no, he just really likes the l-lightning," he said. "He...He _is _an electric P-Pokémon."

"I don't even know what a Pokémon is," she said. Lucas glanced up at the ceiling.

"T-too much to explain."

The two children sat and ate their soup in silence for a while, the only sounds being the thunder, the frantic pitter of the downpour outside, and an occasional slurp of a noodle. As Ana continued to eat, she couldn't help to glance over at Lucas. At the particular moment, a small noodle was hanging from his mouth, and she let out a small giggle. Unfortunately, this was at the same time she was putting a spoonful into her own mouth, so the broth went down the wrong pipe, like most food does when you laugh with your mouth full. She began to gag, and Lucas looked at her, eyes wide. He was about to ask if she was alright when he noticed that she was laughing through the choking. And, no matter how broken it is by choking, laughter is contagious. The two starting laughing their heads off, welcoming the happy moment.

But the moment was shattered by a sudden slam of the door. "Guys!" There was Pikachu, soaking wet, fur a tiny bit frizzy (close encounter with the lightning, perhaps?). "I need help here, right now!" he said. In his arms was a pink, unconscious puffball.

* * *

They had taken her.

The hedgehog looked up from the large rubble pile that had once been his home. Nothing had survived the attack. Nothing at all. Why hadn't he been there? He had gone out for training, like he did every night. And the one night she hadn't gone with him, they had to be attacked. Why? _Why?!_

_Why wasn't he there to protect her?!_

He clenched his fist. He had promised! He had told her that he'd be there! _So where was he?! Where was he when they had destroyed their home, when they had taken her?!_

_Where the hell was he?!_

The hedgehog sighed. It was no use beating himself up. He needed to find her, to save her. It was his responsibility. After all, he had promised...

Something in the rubble caught his eye. It was a green piece of paper. He bent down to pick it up. _A flyer? _he thought. _A flyer for what? _He began to skim it over.

_Wanted: Villains to help with universal take-over. Come to the battleship _Halberd _to join. We will land at each of the following locations at the corresponding dates._

The hedgehog looked at the list of locations and dates. What kind of villain hands out flyers? Especially when they could fall into anyone's hands? Then, it dawned on him.

These were the people who had taken her! If he went to them, he would find her! Smirking, the hedgehog noted the next place that this battleship would land. He reached for his motorcycle. It was off to Poshley Heights for him.

Off to Poshley Heights, and off to Rouge.

* * *

It's so hard to guess who the last person is. (sweatdrop)

Waluigi: She's being sarcastic.

Me: Really?

Waluigi: Yeah, real...Oh. Sarcasm. Gotcha.

Me: (sigh) Anyway, hope that you liked the chapter! Stay tuned for chapter four, where more of my favorite characters are brought in!!

Please press the green button! It is a button of smiles and happiness! And free cookies! Until next time, ciao!

-Umbreon Mastah


	4. Impari

Hey, everyone! After a bad run-in with a dying laptop and a little bit of writer's block, I have returned! Sorry for the very long wait; I promise the next chapter won't take so long. ("We've heard that one before, UM!")

Well, anyways, here's Waluigi with our disclaimer:

Waluigi: UM owns nothing. At all.

Me: Donations are always welcome! (grins and holds out empty cup) But anyways, hope that you enjoy my favorite chapter to date!

* * *

**_Impari_**

* * *

_--Learn--_

* * *

Olimar followed Ashley, Red, and the two professors down the dark alley despite the fact that his conscience screamed at him not to. He was shaking nervously. What if they were attacked? The alley was full of trash cans and other hiding places for criminals. Why did they have to come here anyway?

"We're here," Professor E. Gadd announced. They had come upon a wooden door, seemingly out of nowhere. Gadd knocked on it three times and waited for a minute. Then, the door opened by itself. Gadd led the way in, followed by Ashley, Red on her shoulder, and Professor Frankly. Olimar peered inside. The room was as dark as the alley, perhaps even darker, the only light coming from blood-red candles scattered around the room. Black curtains covered what would have been windows, had they not been boarded up. Cobwebs littered the ceiling. Olimar squinted his eyes and focused in on a large glass case with something white in it. He backed up in horror when he realized that they were bones.

_Human _bones.

And if that didn't completely freak Olimar out, the items lined up on the counter did. A hand, skin, muscle, and everything, lying on the table, next to a black dagger that had—were those blood stains? Shaking that thought out of his mind, Olimar couldn't help but notice a jar. A jar of eyeballs. And, on closer inspection, they were _blinking._

There was no way in hell that he was going in there.

"What's wrong, sonny?" E. Gadd called from inside. Olimar just shook his head.

"You're not making me go in there," he said. "It's too damn freaky. No way." Gadd shrugged.

"If you don't want to go in, fine. But then you'll have to stay in the alley." Olimar was good with that.

"You'll have to stay in the alley," added Red, "with the _mass murderers."_

Oh. The demon had a point.

"Alright, alright, I'll come in," he muttered under his breath, walking into the room. The door slammed shut behind him. Olimar was happy he hadn't brought his Pikmin. That door would have crushed them all.

E. Gadd walked up to the counter and rang the dingy, cobweb-covered bell that Olimar had failed to notice before. Nothing happened. Impatient, Gadd rang the bell again. Still nothing. The professor took the bell, slammed it down on the counter, and crossed his arms. "Is anyone here?!" he shouted.

"Quiet, pleassssse! You don't have to be sssso loud!" Olimar looked around frantically. What was that hissing voice?

His question was answered by the sudden appearance of a woman behind the counter. So sudden, in fact, that it seemed she had flown up from the ground. Her hair was a purplish-grey, and she wore a blue and white striped witch hat that covered her eyes. The entire rest of her body was purple. She had a huge nose, continuing the witch theme, and, instead of legs, she had a single, whispy kind of thing that seemed to be attached to the ground. Her mouth was curved in a wry grin.

"Good day, sssir," she said, her voice sounding like that of a snake's. "How may I help you?"

"One mandrake root and a jar of beeswax, please," said Gadd. The woman nodded. From underneath the counter, she pulled out a jar of white goop (very appetizing, Olimar thought sarcastically) and what looked like a shriveled, distant cousin of a purple Pikmin.

Red seemed to have seen the relationship as well, because he elbowed Olimar and said, "See! We could have just used the Pikmin!"

"Fifteen dollarss and ssseventy-two cccentsss," the woman hissed. Gadd looked back to Frankly, who sighed.

"When are you going to learn to actually bring the money with you?" he asked, pulling a twenty dollar credit from his purse. He handed it to the woman, who took it.

"Thank you," she muttered, giving him his change. Ashley took the beeswax and the mandrake. The group started to move towards the door. Gadd opened it.

"Thank you very much!" he called as the others walked out into the alley.

"Have a niccce day," said the woman. Gadd nodded and walked into the alley as well. Just before the door closed behind them, Olimar got one last look inside.

The woman was gone.

"...Well, that was the creepiest place I've ever been in," said Frankly, breaking the silence. Red stuck out his lip.

"Mistress Ashley's room could _so _give that place a run for its money." Olimar had a feeling that it could. But, right now, he really didn't want to think about creepy stuff. Not in this dark alley.

"Alright, I need to buy something else," Gadd said, "so how about we all meet up in the town square in an hour and a half?" The group agreed, and then went off in separate directions (besides Red, who refused to leave "Mistress Ashley's" side). Olimar hurried as fast as he could out of the alley. He put his hand in the pocket of his spacesuit and fingered the ten dollar credit he had brought with him. It wasn't going to buy him much.

"Hmm... What should I do?" he muttered to himself. He began to walk throughout the town, glancing at the different shops. There was an ice cream store, a badge shop, an inflatable pink flamingo stand... Olimar eyed the cost of the flamingos, but he shook his head and kept walking. Suddenly, he felt something bump into him.

"Oh, sorry, mister!" He looked down to see a cute little Toad girl, her mushroom cap blue with white dots. Brown hair fell in pigtails from the cap.

"That's alright!" he said, smiling. The girl smiled back. "What's your name?" he asked.

"I'm Mimi!" she said. "Well, see ya, mister!" She skipped past him. Olimar smiled again.

"How cute," he said to himself. Then, he kept walking. Finally, he found a stand that offered hot dogs for five credits each. His stomach rumbled. "Maybe I'll get one of those hot dogs!" he laughed, reaching into his pocket. He stopped laughing.

The ten dollar credit he had was gone.

"Dammit! Stupid pickpockets!" he muttered. "What am I supposed to do now?!" Olimar stormed away from the hot dog stand. "I guess I'll just go to the town square and wait," he said. He started to walk in that direction when he heard an oddly familiar voice from a side alley.

"Yessss, Your Majesssty?"

Peeking down the alley, Olimar saw none other than the woman who had cashiered them at the creepy shop. She seemed to be talking to her shadow. Olimar choked back a laugh. "Senile old hag," he muttered, "thinking that her shadow is royalty." But then, something completely supernatural happened.

The shadow spoke back.

_"How are the investigations going?"_ came a voice. It had a dark, evil kind of tone, but it was definitely feminine. The woman pulled down on her hat.

"The rumorss are true," she said. "The Great Ssstar hasss indeed been broken into five ssseparate pointss. The _Ssscelto_ will mosst likely find them in a matter of daysss."

_The Great Star? _thought Olimar. _Weren't Professor E. Gadd and Professor Frankly talking about that? And what are the _Scelto_?_

_"The question is, though, how many of the _Scelto _are on our side?" _the voice said. _"But we will find that out in due time. Beldam, was there anything else?" _The woman, Beldam, nodded.

"Yesss, Your Majessty. Apparently, a group of villainsss hass formed under the one known asss Tabuu. He iss the one who launched the attack on the Great Ssstar initially," she explained. "He iss in possssesssion of the middle pieccce. They are currently looking for membersss. If I may sssuggesst it, Your Majesssty," Beldam said, "I believe we sshould join thisss group. We would have a better chancce of obtaining the entire Ssstar."

_"Hmm...That may be a wise decision." _Beldam smirked. _"And what of your sisters?" _The smirk suddenly turned sour.

"Marilyn will have to be sswayed, but I may be able to bring her to our sside again. Vivian, however..." She paused, her face twisted with disgust, as if merely saying the name brought a bad taste to her mouth. "...would never even think of joining usss again. In fact, sshe might even go asss far asss fighting againsst usss."

_"And will you be able to take care of her?" _asked the voice. The smirk returned.

"Your Majessty," said Beldam, "I already have."

_"Oh?"_

"Not many," she said, "get very far with a priccce on their head." She snickered sinisterly.

_"I like the way you think, Beldam. I wonder where you got that from," _the voice said, her last sentence a bit sarcastic, as if she knew the answer already. Beldam smiled.

"From the bessst, Your Majesssty." And the conversation ended. Olimar figured he should get out of there. So he ran.

"Damn," he thought aloud. "If this Beldam person is after the Great Star or whatever, she may be after the professors, too! I should probably tell them!" _And whoever this Vivian is, _he added mentally. _She's in danger... _Olimar kept on running towards the town square.

Why, of all the places to crash-land, did he have to land smack in the middle of this?

* * *

"...Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer! You take one down, pass it around, ninety-eight bottles of—"

"FALCO, SHUT UP!" The bird pilot crossed his wings, his bright blue Arwing cruising along at a speed of over one hundred and sixty miles per hour, which in Falco's opinion was a snail's pace.

"Well, we're never going to get there flying at this speed," he said, "so I have to entertain myself."

"Well," said Krystal, "could you entertain yourself a bit...less annoyingly, maybe?" He glared in the direction of her Arwing.

"What do you propose I do, then?"

"Let's play 'I Spy'!" cried Slippy from his Arwing. "I spy, with my little eye, something, um...blue!"

"Is it Fox's Arwing?" Falco asked unenthusiastically.

"How'd you guess?" He sighed.

"Just lucky."

"Now it's your turn, Falco!" said the toad.

"I spy, with my little eye, something green, stupid, and highly annoying," the bird muttered.

"Um, um, um, I don't know, Falco, give me another hint!" Falco whacked his head with his wing. Slippy was the youngest in the group, and by far the densest. It amazed the bird that this idiot could actually get his job as mechanic done. _Well, he's a genius when it comes to technology, _he thought, _but in everything else..._

"Falco, stop tormenting Slippy." That was Fox, always defending the stupid green toad. Falco sighed. Most people said that if you got a dictionary and looked up the word _leader, _there'd be a picture of Fox next to it. Falco figured that you could look up _bossy _and get the same result.

"I'm not tormenting him!" the bird argued. "He's the one who made me play 'I Spy'!"

"And 'I Spy' is the embodiment of torment, isn't it, Falco?" muttered Krystal sarcastically.

"For me it is!"

"Yeah..." Falco stuck his tongue out at the vixen. The newest member of the team, Krystal was the type of person that when she'd walk into a room, you'd expect a saxophone solo to play. But she was nice, no matter how sarcastic she could be. Falco loved how she would casually play with her ocean blue hair when she talked; he loved the way her voice carried her British accent through the air; basically, he loved nearly everything about her.

But there was one thing he hated, and that was that she was madly in love with Fox.

"Fox," he asked into his radio, "how far are we from the explosion site?"

"About 983 miles," was the answer. Falco narrowed his eyes.

"That's more than six hours of flying at the speed we're at," he grumbled. "We could be there in five minutes!"

"We need to let Peppy catch up with us," said the vixen. The bird knew that she was right. But his feathers were starting to itch. If he wasn't able to speed up soon... Then, he realized something. _The others could wait for Peppy, _he thought. _There's no use for me here. Maybe I'll go check around a little bit._

"You do that then," he said. "I'll go check it out." Falco hit the acceleration and zoomed ahead of Fox.

"Wait, Falco!" the commander cried, but he was drowned out by the Anthrax CD that the bird pilot had popped into the radio. By the time Fox had looked up, Falco was gone, zooming along at top speed (meaning twelve thousand miles per hour).

"IT'S A MADHOUSE!" he sang along, pounding at the dashboard of his Arwing. Fox was going to flip out when they caught up to him, but, like he had said before, that would be in six hours. And the explosion site was mere minutes away at his speed. He grinned. See? Things always worked out when they did it _his _way.

Finally, Falco came upon what had to be the explosion site. He slammed on the brakes, slowing down just enough to be able to make a safe landing. _"Oxygen level: suitable for life," _a feminine voice from his Arwing's control panel chimed. He sighed.

"Thank you, Gladys." Falco opened the cockpit and stepped out. He narrowed his eyes. "This place doesn't _look_ like it's just had a Scale 10 Explosion," he said. It was true. The place seemed perfectly intact, except for a shattered glass container in the center. The bird glanced around. It looked like a huge floating tent. He spotted what looked like a library, across from a restaurant of some kind. In the distance was a fountain, and to his left was a small dome covered in grass. One half of the site was tile; the other was lush green grass, complete with vivid flowers. "In fact," he continued, "this place looks completely habitable! Hello?!" There was no reply. Falco shrugged and headed towards the center, where the broken container was. He glanced around.

"Well, I'm guessing this was where the thing exploded," he said. He circled the shattered container, trying to find any evidence of what that thing was. Suddenly, he came across something on the white tile. Blood stains. Falco squatted down to get a closer look. "Damn," he muttered, looking at the drops of red. "This could have been here for who knows how long. I'm not able to test it." He got back up, something on the other side catching his eye. "Oh? What's this?" These, too, looked like they could be blood stains, except for one important difference.

These stains were a bright, shining blue.

"What kind of blood is this?" he asked himself, kneeling down beside it. He poked it, expecting it to be hardened. It wasn't. The blood stains, or, rather, the blood, suddenly flashed with a great blue light. "The hell?!" Falco cried. He shielded his eyes. The light cleared. And the blood was gone. Falco simply blinked.

"Okay, what the _hell_ was that?"

Shrugging, the bird looked down at his wing. There was a bit of the strange blood left on it. "Good!" he said. "_This _I can test!" He dashed over to his Arwing and pushed a few buttons.

_"Liquid containment, activated," _came the voice. A small robotic arm holding a glass vile came out of the dashboard. Falco held his wing out over the vile and wiped the blood into it. _"Now storing at proper temperature."_

_"Thank you, _Gladys," he sighed again. Well, now he had something to test when he got back to the _Great Fox_. But there was nothing else to do, nothing else interesting to see. Falco sighed and flopped back on the grass. "This is _so _not worth five thousand credits." He lay there for about a half an hour, doing nothing but look up at the stars in the sky.

Then, he heard a sudden _swoosh. _Falco sat up. "Who's there?" he asked, glancing around suspiciously. "Show yourself! I'm armed!" There was another _swoosh, _this time right behind him. "Who are you?!" he called, jumping to his feet.

"Do you think he can help us?"

"I don't know! Should we ask?"

"Do we have a choice?"

Falco's wing instinctively went to his blaster. There was someone here, that was for sure.

"I think we should ask him."

"But what if he attacks us?!"

"He won't attack us if we ask him not to!"

The voices were high, like those of children. Falco could tell that there were two, one girl and one boy. But where were they?

"Hey, Mister?"

"ACK!" Falco whizzed around, pulling his blaster out. The little figure behind him cringed.

"Don't hurt us, please! We just want your help!" The bird slowly lowered his gun. The voice belonged to a pale peach star, floating in front of him. His large black eyes were wide with terror. He didn't seem to be a threat, so Falco put his gun away completely. The star suddenly relaxed. "It's okay!" he called. "He won't attack us!" From behind the small, grass-covered dome emerged another star, this one a bright yellow.

"Will he help us?" she asked, floating up next to the other star.

"Who are you?" Falco asked. "What do you want with me?"

"Please," said the peach star, "please, you have to help us save Mama!"

* * *

Waluigi awoke with a strange burning smell in his nose. He checked the clock next to his bed. Six thirty in the morning. He had gone to bed early last night. The Italian rubbed his eyes and glanced around his room. It was rather plain; the walls were brown (all of the walls were), the floor seemed to be made of some kind of steel tile (like every other floor in this ship), and there was a single bed, night table, and window. That was it. Waluigi had a feeling that Wario's room, across the hall, wasn't much different.

Such originality.

But the smell. He was sure that there wasn't a burning smell yesterday. Waluigi pulled himself out of bed and opened the door. Loud snores could be heard from his brother's room. _He'd _probably be out until noon. Waluigi sighed. Then he followed his nose to the source of the burning smell. Finally, he found himself in the kitchen. He was a bit surprised at the person he found at the stove.

"Ganondorf?!"

The Gerudo glanced up. "Morning, Waluigi! How was your first night on the _Halberd_?"

Stunned to see Ganon at a stove, in an apron, no less, the Italian could barely mutter a, "Fine, I guess."

"Don't worry about the blandness of it, Meta Knight allowed us to put up posters if we didn't wreck the walls. You should see how many Crump-cake put up. All video game characters, too!" Ganon laughed.

"I'm right here, imbecile!" came a voice from the sofa. Waluigi nearly jumped. Crump was lounging on the sofa in the living room, which was connected to the kitchen. He flipped through channels, not really watching. There was a sudden explosion from the stove.

"What are you doing?!" Waluigi half asked, half shouted. Ganondorf shrugged.

"Making breakfast."

"Yes, even though it _looks _like he's blowing up the kitchen," muttered Crump, "he's making breakfast."

"Why don't _you _cook, then?" the Gerudo snapped.

"Because you don't let us within a five foot range of your stove, remember?" he answered.

"Oh."

Eager to change the subject, Waluigi tried to come up with something. Wario he knew was asleep, but... "Where's Meta Knight?" he asked suddenly. The two looked at him, eyes wide. Then, they burst out laughing.

"Take a look outside!" said Ganon. Confused, Waluigi walked over to the window. He peeked out.

The sky was still a crimson red, like it had been the day before. But this time, there was no desert sand underneath. Instead, red clouds, along with an occasional bird, flew by. The window was closed, but now that he was closer Waluigi could hear the wind blowing past. Of course! They had taken off while he was sleeping!

_They were flying!_

"Oh my god," was all that Waluigi said. He _had_ to see this closer. He dashed out of the room. Crump and Ganon looked at each other.

"...New flyer?" Crump offered.

Waluigi ran down the hallway to the ladder that Ganondorf had showed to him yesterday. He had said that it led to the bridge, to the top of the ship. He climbed it quickly and opened the trapdoor. Waluigi was met with a huge gust of wind. Bracing himself against the gusts, he pulled himself out of the ship and onto the bridge.

"Wow." That was all he could say. And it basically described the scene pretty well. Although the sky was red all around the ship, it didn't take away from the majesty of the _Halberd_ as she flew. There was a strong headwind; so strong, in fact, that it knocked Waluigi over; but the ship seemed to plow right through it, like a knife slicing hot butter. The Italian carefully crept over to the edge, so not to get knocked over again. He peered down. The red did not reach the underside of the ship, and Waluigi could see a village, houses the size of ants, far below.

"This is amazing," he said to no one in particular. Then, he crawled back over to the trapdoor, lowered himself in, and closed it. Amazing was right. He dashed down the hall, peering out of every window just to see the view from a different perspective. Finally, Waluigi came to the pilot's room, as Ganon had insisted it be called ("Can't very well call it a cockpit, can we?") He opened the door without even knocking. "Meta Knight!" he cried.

Meta Knight turned his head slowly. His gloved hands loosely gripped the wheel, and he was tapping one of them in what might have been a particular rhythm. The headphones were on, but from the glare he gave Waluigi, it seemed that he could hear just fine. "What is it?" he asked, a bit annoyed.

"You're the one flying this, right?" the Italian asked. Meta said nothing, which Waluigi took to mean, _Yes, you moron. _"It's amazing!" he cried. "I've never seen more excellent flying ever!" And, with that, he ran out of the room, hoping not to incur the wrath of Meta Knight any further. But, while he was running, he could have sworn he'd heard a soft chuckle from the pilot's room.

Waluigi dashed into the kitchen and screeched to a stop. Crump and Ganon gave him blank stares. Finally, Ganondorf broke the silence. "So," he said, "now that you've gotten that out of your system, do you want breakfast?"

"Um...Sure." Ganon handed the Italian a plate with bacon and eggs on it. Wait, I lied. He handed him a plate with what was _supposed _to be bacon and eggs on it, but instead, there were two strips of blackened...er, something, and a pile of bubbling white goop. However, Ganon looked quite proud of himself, so Waluigi simply muttered a "Thanks" and made his way to the sofa. "Are we supposed to eat this?" he whispered to Crump, who had his plateful on his lap.

"What else is there?" he said. "We'll have to eat this unless we find some other kind of food, and, I swear, Meta Knight has no junk food whatsoever." Waluigi made a disgusted kind of face and stuck his fork into a piece of the "bacon." He took a small nibble and his entire face turned green.

"How do you survive?" he asked, trying to keep himself from spitting it out. Crump shrugged.

"Well, we order Chinese on Thursdays." Waluigi groaned. Today was Saturday. There was no way he was going to make it. The Italian glared at his breakfast. He prodded the "eggs" with his fork.

"So, what do you think? Like it?" Waluigi turned around to see Ganondorf smiling at him, completely oblivious to the fact that Waluigi was pushing his food around the plate in a disgusted manner. The Gerudo looked like he had just made a masterpiece, and Waluigi couldn't bring himself to tell him how horrible his cooking was.

"It's...good," he lied, reluctantly placing a piece of goo into his mouth. He swallowed it painfully. But Ganon seemed fine with that answer. Well, hopefully he was fine with it, because at that moment the stove let out another small explosion, and he ran over. Crump elbowed Waluigi.

"You're such a suck-up," he said. The Italian stuck his tongue out at him. Then they both ate their meals in a pained silence. Waluigi had finished most of it (his face probably could have been mistaken for a lime) when the entire ship shook.

"Holy—!" he cried, jumping off the sofa. The television nearly fell over, the sofa nearly fell over, anything you could possibly think of nearly fell over.

"Looks like Ridley's back," muttered Crump.

"Meta's gonna be thrilled," added Ganon sarcastically. The ship shook again, though not as drastically this time.

"Hola!" came a loud voice. "Guess who's here!"

"The menace with wings?" Ganon offered. There was a sneering, almost maniacal laugh.

"At your service!" From the hall, clicking footsteps could be heard, like talons on steel. Waluigi glanced up fearfully. No one had told him who this Ridley was; all he had gathered was that he hunted and, apparently, he had claws. This didn't exactly instill a good image in his mind.

So, when an eight foot, yellow-eyed, purple dragon with golden wings and razor-sharp teeth entered the room, Waluigi's initial reaction was to hide behind the couch. The dragon noted this with interest.

"Newbie, I see," he said. Then he let out another laugh. "Hey, noob! What's your name?"

Noticing the amused looks on Crump's, Ganon's, and the dragon's faces, Waluigi realized that the dragon was _not _going to eat him alive, and therefore he could come out from behind the sofa. "Waluigi," he said, face red from embarrassment. The dragon laughed again (he seemed to do that often).

"Well, Waluigi, I'm Ridley!" he said. "Pleased to meet ya!" He held out a purple claw, which Waluigi oh-so-carefully shook.

"So, Ridley, what did you bring back? Anything this time?" Crump asked.

"Well, yes," said Ridley. "Indeed I did. They're already downstairs."

"That's a first," he muttered.

"How many?" asked Ganon.

"Two," was the reply. "Some raccoon and fox that ran right into me. It would have been three, but the stupid bat got away because of _this."_ He raised his other talon, and Waluigi noticed something he hadn't seen before. There was a large kunai knife stuck in his claw. Ganondorf winced.

"Damn. A _bat_ threw that at you?"

"No, a kindergartener did," he grumbled, barely audible. There was a short silence, then the sound of muffled laughter. Crump bit his lip.

"A _what _threw that at you?" he chuckled. Ridley bared his teeth.

"A _kindergartener _did," he growled, a bit louder.

"I can't _hear _you!" Crump sang. The dragon's eyes flashed and he slammed his claw onto the couch.

"A freakin' kindergarten ninja threw it at me!" he shouted. Then he realized all too late that the claw he slammed down was the one the kunai knife was in, and he cried out in pain. "YeeeOWCH!"

"Maybe we should stop tormenting each other for at least a moment and get that fixed up, hmm?" Ganondorf cut in. Ridley snorted and shoved Crump off the sofa as he sat down. Waluigi found himself wondering if Ganon's medical skills were as...er...accomplished as his cooking skills. However, he didn't get to find out, because the ship gave another enormous lurch, ten times bigger than the last two combined.

All the stuff that nearly fell over last time hit the ceiling.

The room was in complete disarray. It looked like a tornado hit it, stepped on it, and then threw it in a garbage dump. There were muffled groans from under the sofa, which, by some stroke of luck, happened to land on all four of them. The sound of metallic footsteps could be heard from the hall.

"We've landed," said Meta Knight as he walked into the room. He looked at the four couch-crushed villains.

"You're supposed...to warn us..." Crump coughed.

"Or at least turn on the 'fasten seatbelts' light," the dragon muttered.

Sighing, Meta walked over and pushed the sofa off of them. "The _Halberd _is not a passenger jet," he said simply. "And I want this place cleaned up. Now!" Smirking, Ganon was about to put his fingers in his mouth and whistle. "Without the R.O.B.s!" the knight added, causing the Gerudo to drop his fingers like his mouth was hot.

"Why not?" he whined.

"Because," said Meta. There was a brief silence before he turned and walked away, muttering something about lazy bums and breakfast.

More silence.

"Well," said Crump, "let's get cleaning."

There was a sound of moans. Suddenly, Wario appeared at the doorway, horrible case of bed head _and _bad breath in tow. "Did I miss something?"

* * *

The little Toad girl gazed at the candy rack inside the small store. Her brown braided pigtails fell innocently to her shoulders, and she eyed the sweets longingly. The cashier, an old Goomba, smiled. "Which one's your favorite?" he asked her. The girl looked up and grinned.

"I dunno," she said sweetly. "Which one's _your _favorite?"

The Goomba chuckled. "It's been a long time since I had a piece of candy. It's bad for my heart. But I do remember," he said, "chocolate bars being the ones I loved best. With almonds."

"Chocolate bars with almonds," the girl repeated. "Yummy!"

"Yes," the cashier agreed, sighing. "Oh, sometimes I wish I was young again." The young girl picked up a chocolate bar and looked at it, as if deciding whether or not to choose it.

Then, her eyes went to something behind the Goomba. "Mister, what's that behind you?" she asked. The Goomba turned his head.

"Why, there's nothing..." He blinked. The girl was gone.

And so was the chocolate bar.

"Stop!" The girl paid no attention to the now-angry Goomba behind her as she ran through the streets. "Get back here!"

"Ack!" she cried. "Why do Toads have to have such short and stubby legs?!" She pushed those short and stubby legs to move as fast as they could. Fortunately for her, Goombas also have short and stubby legs, and, taking age into consideration, she had quite a large advantage. It wasn't long before the elderly Goomba disappeared behind her.

Now she found herself in a small park area, the only place with a blade of grass in the entire town. There was no one in sight. The girl double checked to make sure no one was watching. Then, with a puff of smoke, the blue-capped Toad girl was gone. Instead, there was a green-skinned girl wearing a polka-dot dress. She seemed to be made entirely out of square-ish blocks, save for the round bottom of her dress, and her arms and legs were merely lines. Her short green curls bounced as she sat on a bench and waited, hiding her chocolate bar in a pocket.

Finally, there was a sound of huffing and puffing. The old Goomba wheezed his way into the park area, sweating and trying to catch his breath. "Did you," he asked, panting, "see a young Toad with brown hair run by here, by any chance?"

"Yeah," she answered, pointing to some random direction (She didn't really know, and she didn't really care.). "She went that-a-way."

"Thank you," he coughed, following her finger and dashing off again.

It wasn't until he was safely out of earshot that the girl muttered, "Old people," with disgust and took out the chocolate bar again. "And so," she said, "the Great Mimi prevails again!" She unwrapped the chocolate and bit into it. "Yum. This is good."

Mimi stretched out her arms. "Now, what to do, what to do?" she sighed. "That big-nosed bum only got me ten credits, and that won't get me much. I guess I could try swiping more moola from some other saps, but I'm tired." She yawned, as if to prove her point. "Maybe I'll take a quick nap first, then," she said.

"Or you could tell me your name."

Mimi jumped fifteen feet, her first thought being _Pedophile!, _second thought being _Murderer!, _and third being _Crap, O'Chunks still owes me ten bucks! _She whizzed around to see a ghost staring back at her, bright red eyes gleaming. To most others he would have looked like a random dude wearing a sheet, but Mimi had studied while under Count Bleck; she knew that before her stood a Duplighost. Unknowingly, though, she had said it aloud, or at least the "A Duplighost!" part.

"Well, well, give the girl a prize," said the Duplighost, clapping. Mimi noticed that, unlike the common Duplighost, he was wearing a large wizard's hat (decorated with stars and tassels) and a blue bowtie. "So, you're right. I'm a Duplighost. And who are you?"

Mimi bit the inside of her cheek, hoping that this wasn't going to turn into a bad date. "Who's asking?" she spat.

He laughed. "Of course," he said. "Where are my manners?" He then made a large bow, tipping his hat. "The name's Doopliss Shiftle, at your service."

Oh. _Now _things were different. Mimi suddenly saw this ghost in a new light. Doopliss Shiftle was a famous name in the shapeshifter world. No, not famous. More like divine. "You mean…the Doopliss who stole Mario's body?" Mimi asked in awe. "And convinced all of Twilight Town, plus Mario's partners, that you were really him?"

"Oh, so you've heard of me?" asked Doopliss nonchalantly. The girl nodded, too stunned to speak. He was, like, a shapeshifting god. And he was _talking _to her! "But, really, enough about me," he continued. "This conversation has been revolving around me, me, me. How about you? Would you be so kind as to tell me your name, at least?"

And now he wanted to know her name. Holy crud, she must be dreaming. "Um…I'm Mimi," she said nervously.

"Hmm. Cute name," he said, and she felt like she could faint. "Well, Mimi, that was, I must say, an _amazing _Toad that you did. Absolutely stunning, perfect right down to the polka dots." Now she almost _did _faint. _Doopliss Shiftle. _Complimenting _her shifting skills._ Oh. My. God. "You see, most shifters, when doing Toads, get the polka dots wrong; they look more like ellipses than actually round dots. I had that problem initially, too, but _yours! _Yours are perfectly round! And I'm rambling, aren't I?"

Mimi shook her head. "No, no, I know exactly what you're saying." It was something that only Toads and shapeshifters really understood (or cared about, for that matter). "But, but _you? _Complimenting _me? _I'm sure you could do a better Toad in your sleep!"

Doopliss laughed. "Ah, the perks of being famous," he sighed. "I just _love _how everyone thinks I'm too good for them." Then he sat down on the bench, and motioned for her to do the same. "Look, Mimi," he said, "let's pretend for a second that I'm not famous and that you've never heard the name Doopliss before in your life. Okay?"

"Um…Okay…" she mumbled. Why would someone not want to be treated like they were famous?

"So," said Doopliss, "if you don't mind me asking, how long have you been shifting?"

Mimi thought back. She'd been shifting ever since she was born, really. "About two hundred years," she said. Yes. Two hundred years. Even she wasn't exactly sure what her species was, but they appeared to have a rather amazing life expectancy. She often stunned people with her age; she looked nineteen, and it took a bit of explaining to say that, for her, two hundred _was_ nineteen. Or close to it.

Doopliss seemed shocked as well, but not in the way that most people were. "Only two hundred years? Really? Geez, with a Toad that perfect, I assumed that you were at least a thousand! So is this your true form? Before I didn't think it was, seeing as how I thought you were older, but now I think…that I'm rambling again." He grinned sheepishly.

Mimi looked at him. He seemed trustworthy, though they had just met. For some people, true forms were a touchy subject, not to be talked about with many. Though Doopliss seemed rather open about it, did she really want to tell him…about her true form? About _that _true form? No, of course not. She had just met _Doopliss Shiftle. _She didn't want to scare him away. "Yeah," she lied, "this is my true form."

"Cool," said the Duplighost. "Obviously, this is my true form as well. But anyway, only two hundred? You must be some kind of prodigy. When I was two hundred, I could barely shift into your common Goomba." He got a wistful look in his eyes, as if remembering his long ago days as a boy of two hundred. "And if you're this good now, think of where a little practice and some experience could get you! Wow, Mimi, you've got your work cut out for you!"

The shifter girl gave him a look of disbelief. "All this from one Toad?" she said.

Doopliss shrugged. "You want to show me something else? I mean, it's possible that your Toad is amazing and everything else is crap, but the chances of that are about a million and a half to one. If you really want to do another…"

Mimi took that as an invitation to show off her best work. First she transformed into Merlee, a persona she had taken on so many times to try to trick Mario the last time they met. Merlee (the real one) had since then become a TV host on the show _Paranormal Happenings, _so Mimi assumed that Doopliss had seen her before. He did, clapping and saying, "Excellent work! Like right off _Para Hap!" _Smirking, she then became Bowser Koopa, someone she was sure he was familiar with. She even added a small fireball. Doopliss seemed excited, muttering something along the lines of, "Holy mother of the Shadow Queen," and grinning like a madman. Lastly, Mimi topped it off with what she thought to be the culmination of her work. With a puff of purple smoke, she became a huge black and purple dragon, complete with poison fangs and miniature wings. "Holy crap!" shouted Doopliss. "You can do _Gloomtail?!" _Oh, that was the dragon's name? She had seen the picture in one of Dimentio's books but hadn't bothered to read the rest of it. Done with the show, she returned to her "true" form.

Silence.

"Holy shit."

She blushed. "Aw, geez, I'm not _that _good…" she mumbled.

"Mimi," said Doopliss, looking her straight in the eye, "for a _thousand _year old, that's good. You've been shifting for _two hundred. _Trust me, it's that good."

"Come on, there's gotta be _something _wrong with it!" said Mimi. Fishing for insults? What had gotten into her? Did she think he was playing her or something?

The Duplighost let out a _hmph._ "Well, if you want me to get nitpicky, Bowser's scales were a bit too oval. Happy?"

"I think," she said. Doopliss laughed.

"You're a bit confusing, but you are one _hell _of a shifter, Mimi." He smiled at her. Holy crap. Complimented many times over by possibly the most famous shapeshifter in the history of famous shapeshifters. This was turning out to be an amazing day.

And then it got more amazing.

"Well, Mimi, this really started out as just a passing query, you know? Just talking with another shapeshifter and whatnot? Well, now I've seen what you can do, and I've got a proposal," he said, eyes flashing. A proposal? "I've actually been considering taking on a pupil. I mean, I feel like it would be a good experience, and I think I could be a help, though with you I probably won't be much of a help…"

"My scales are a bit too oval," she interrupted. Doopliss simply stared at her for a minute, having lost his train of thought. Then he cracked up.

"Yes," he said between fits of laughter, "yes, your scales are a bit too oval." Mimi smiled. Then realization hit. Doopliss Shiftle just asked to teach her. This was the chance of a lifetime! "Well," said Doopliss, finally recomposed, "are you in?"

She took a few seconds to answer, but she realized that it was definitely the right answer for the situation. "Hell yes!"

"Great!" said the Duplighost. "This is awesome! Of course, we'll need catch a train. What sounds better, Isle Delfino or the Glitz Pit?"

"Huh?" asked Mimi.

"Well, we obviously can't stick around in _this _town!" he said with a laugh. "I don't even know what the name is!"

"I don't think it has one," she replied. "But I don't have any money for a train! All I've got is this!" She held out the ten that she'd gotten from Big Nose. However, the two were cut off by a random rat, holding a suitcase. He looked really flustered.

"Hey, did either of you two see a Koopa Paratroopa? Red shell?" The two shapeshifters shook their heads. "That scumbag took fifty credits from me!" the rat fumed, running off.

Mimi looked to Doopliss. The Duplighost smirked, pulling a fifty from his hat. "Hey, I might be famous, but I'm sure as hell not rich. You're not the only one allowed to use shifting for personal benefit!" She laughed.

This was looking like a great decision already.

* * *

Doopliss and Mimi! Hooray! I'm so excited that they finally got added in! Hope you liked this chapter, cuz I certainly enjoyed writing it.

Remember: press the green button, and you'll get a cookie! It's so simple that it's mindboggling!

Ciao!

-Umbreon Mastah


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